prosecution history estoppel

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. In United States patent law, the circumstance under which a person who has filed a patent application, and then made amendments to the application to accommodate the patent law and secure issuance of the patent, is prevented from bringing a cause of action for infringement of the patent where the allegedly infringing acts falling within the matter disclaimed by the amendment.